Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for the biosynthesis of geraniol

Geraniol is a monoterpene with wide applications in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Microbial production has largely used model organisms lacking favorable properties for monoterpene production. In this work, we produced geraniol in metabolically engineered Yarrowia lipolytica. First, two plant-derived geraniol synthases (GES) from Catharanthus roseus (Cr) and Valeriana officinalis (Vo) were tested based on previous reports of activity. Both wild type and truncated mutants of GES (without signal peptide targeting chloroplast) were examined by co-expressing with MVA pathway enzymes tHMG1 and IDI1. Truncated CrGES (tCrGES) produced the most geraniol and thus was used for further experimentation. The initial strain was obtained by overexpression of the truncated HMG1, IDI and tCrGES. The acetyl-CoA precursor pool was enhanced by overexpressing mevalonate pathway genes such as ERG10, HMGS or MVK, PMK. The final strain overexpressing 3 copies of tCrGES and single copies of ERG10, HMGS, tHMG1, IDI produced approximately 1 g/L in shake-flask fermentation. This is the first demonstration of geraniol production in Yarrowia lipolytica and the highest de novo titer reported to date in yeast.